Samurai II: Vengeance in Review – By the Way of the warrior is meant death, the Way of the warrior is death.

With some AAA titles from big name publishers released over the last few months in the Hack’n’Slash genre, it’s getting harder and harder to really stand out. But the authors of Samurai: Way of the Warrior (TMA Review) feel that they have enough standing behind them and released the follow up to their hit title with Samurai II: Vengeance. The eastern answer to the Eurpoean knights have always intrigued me, so I couldn’t help but check out this latest action-packed title.

Samurai II is a 3rd person Action/Slasher, putting you back in control of Daisuke Shimada. The evil Orochi has made a pact with a demon, gaining superhuman abilities and his own flying fortress. In this new form he is terrorizing innocent people all over Japan. Yet again Daisuke has to seek out his sworn enemy and defeat him once and for all.

Unsurprisingly the core element of Samurai II’s gameplay is action, action and guess what… more action. Following straightforward levels you’ll advance from battleground to battleground where you’ll be stuck until you defeat several waves of spawned enemies. This endless bloodshed is a little bit diluted by simple environment puzzles, requiring you to evade deadly traps or find a lever to open up further progress. No platform jumping though thankfully.

Doesn’t sound like much, right? Don’t fret, what Samurai II lacks in complexity, it makes up for in sheer adrenaline-pumping action. Using just the two available attack types you can muster up multi-hit combos with spectacular finishing hits to make short work of your foes. What’s even better – you can use experience points earned for the havoc that you wreak for upgrading the combos, unlocking new ones and gaining extra health to withstand the onslaught.

Technically Samurai II is polished goodness to the extreme. Based on the Unity 3.0 engine the game utilizes unique-style visuals at full Retina quality glory to provide a true impression of playing out a comic book story. The simple control scheme offers hints on attacks already made to help you nail that combo and makes even the most complicated but powerful 6-move ones attainable even for the beginner. And of course, for the achievement hunter, Samurai II has full GameCenter support with both trophies and leaderboards.

Simply said – Samurai II is a gorgeous and bloody action polished to the extreme. The unique graphics style coupled with the superb Retina-quality graphics make playing the game almost like watching a comic strip come to life. And the excellently designed controls make even the powerful multi-hit combos and finishing moves accessible to the casual player as well as action-games expert. The only gripe is the completely linear level design, taking you from battleground to battleground to fight waves of enemies rather than organically placing them in your path, though the heart-pumping action will not give you a moment to dwell on that. Finally, for those of you with an iPad, Samurai II is also universal app, meaning you can enjoy this bloody good game on all iDevices for one low price.